Growing Pains
by donobone
Summary: With the Dursley's having to leave number 4 Privet Drive, it forces Dudley to finally grow up, but what will Dudley discover that turns his world upside down. please R
1. Chapter 1

**Dudley Dursley stared at number 4 Privet Drive until it was out of sight, he didn't really understand what was happening, he just knew that things would never be the same again. He was sat in his father's car with his mum and dad and two fully grown wizards, he was driving away from his life, his friends, from Harry, and it just didn't feel right, if someone had told him a couple of years ago, that he would never see Harry again, he would have been overjoyed,but now he just felt sad and empty. " here we are" said Dedalus Diggle, breaking Dudley's chain of thoughts, come now we have to time this just right, continued Dedalus, "right sir, Madame over here with me, he said indicating Vernon and petunia, Dudley you go with Hestia", Dudley walked over to Hestia and she took his arm, on the count of three she said, 1 - 2 – 3, Dudley felt her twist on the spot and then blackness, it felt as if time was speeding past him, causing his lungs to burn, he thought they might explode, and then just as quickly as it started it stopped, Dudley opened his eyes and fell to his knees coughing and sputtering " Diddikins" he heard his mother screech, and although a little dizzy herself, crawled on her hands and knees to mollycoddle her son " please let's not draw attention to ourselves, come follow me " said dedlus hurriedly, Dudley got to his feet and slowly followed the wizard for maybe 10 mins until they came to a small house in a little village " where are we?", said Dudley nervously, " not now me boy" said the hurried tones of Dedalus, I will explain everything in time" Dudley watched the small wizard pull out a large brown envelope, and a set of keys, " everything you need to know is in this envelope, I have business to attend to, but I will be back, and then with a tilt of his hat he was gone, Dudley walked forward and gently took the keys of his father, unlocked the front door, and pushed it forward, Dudley's jaw dropped in amazement at what he saw, he turned to his parents , but they too were wide eyed, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Dudley walked into the house, still not believing what he was seeing, he reached out and ran his fingers across the walls, as if they would disappear at his touch, " it's a trick of the eyes, it can't be real" he heard his father mutter , the whole inside of the house was the exact replica of number 4 Privet Drive, the rooms were the same the wall paper everything, it was almost as if somebody had placed there old house inside their new one, Dudley gave way to his shaking legs, and sat on the couch, and just stared at his father pacing up and down the living floor, it was almost as if they had never left.

That evening the Dursley sat down to open the envelope, that had been left by Dedalus, Dudley watched his father read the letter and saw his cheeks flush scarlet, he threw the letter down on the table," the bloody cheek" was all he offered as an explanation, Dudley picked up the letter and began to read

Welcome e to Australia Dursley Family

I hope that you are settling in well in your new home, for your own safety you will stay here until the war is over , as we don't know how long your stay will last it is important that you fit in to your new surroundings as much as possible, and not draw to much attention to yourselves, therefore we have enrolled Dudley into the local school, and Vernon into employment (details on next page) somebody will be in touch soon.

The letter was short and straight to the point, he looked at his father "I don't want to go school here" he said quietly "well you will, snapped his father; I will have no one saying that Vernon Dursley doesn't fit in.

The next week felt like a month to Dudley, he had no friends and nothing to do, he spent most days on his own and sulking in his bedroom, his father had been so bad tempered lately, it was best to stay out of his way. That evening as Dudley made his way downstairs he heard his parents whispering, he strained his ears to listen, but couldn't work out what they were saying, as he walked into the room, they stopped quickly " what were you talking about" demanded Dudley of his parents, He his father cleared his throat and said" it's been over a week now, since we have been here, and you have hardly seen sunlight, were worried my lad, so it's been decided, that until school starts you will come and work with me" Vernon sighed as he finished, he knew what was coming " I will not" he snapped "You will do as you are told to was his father's retort, Dudley started to stamp his feet and bang on the walls, I WILL NOT he screamed Dudley knew immediately that he had pushed his luck to far, and ran for the front door, " YOU WILL 

BECAUSE I TOLD YOU TO, NOW YOU BE READY IN THE MORNING OR I'L DRAG YOU THERE" screamed his father, as Dudley opened the door to make his escape he bumped into a small man "Hello Dudley said Dedalus Diggle with a tilt of his hat, Dudley stood aside then followed him into the living room, " glad to see you're not drawing too much attention to yourself, smiled Dedalus to Vernon as he placed a small brown radio on the table, " unfortunately I don't come bearing good news, he began a lot has happened in the week since I last saw you, our minister of magic was and killed by the dark lord, the ministry is now completely under his control, people who oppose him are being tortured and killed, things are not good at all, I bring this radio to you , the order will be able to contact you, to give you news of your nephew, and to warn you in case of emergencies, I must go now, I have much work that needs to be done, I hope to see you again one day he said, Dudley and his parents walked him to the front door " long live harry potter" he said before walking out of the gate.

The next evening as Dudley walked up the path to his front door, he couldn't remember a day when he had worked so hard, he had mowed trimmed planted and dug up, peoples garden all day long, he entered the house and found his mother sat round the table with a man and a woman, "This is my son Dudley, she said proudly to the couple at the table, and these are our new neighbors meet Wendell and Monica Wilkins.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

In the next few weeks Dudley managed to avoid spending too much time with his new neighbors, but there was no getting out of tonight, " you're going and that's final" his father had shouted at him earlier, so at 5pm, armed with a bowl of salad his mother had thrust into his hands, he grudgingly made his way next door for the barbeque, as he entered the Wilkins house, he was struck with a feeling of emptiness, the house was very minimalist, very plain, no personality was the only way he could describe it, he was alarmed to see photo frames on the walls but not one had a picture in it, he made a mental note to ask about this later, and then carried on into the back garden.

The afternoon wasn't as horrible as it could have been Dudley thought, the food was delicious, and the Wilkins were ok, their personalities certainly didn't reflect upon the house that they lived in, when Dudley had finished his fourth plate of food, the subject changed to Dudley school, it had been a week since Dudley had started his new school, and he fitted in quite easily, he had new friends, and was part of a new bullying gang. " Have you made some new little friends" Monica asked him gently, Dudley cringed I wonder if she knows I'm not 5 years old he thought, " course he has roared his father with delight, even had friends over to tea , our Dudley's always been a popular lad", just then something brown and bushy flew past Dudley's head, ARGH he screamed jumping to his feet, ,That's just Granger our cat chuckled Wendell, we have two Hermione should be around here somewhere as well, Dudley saw the look of disgust on his mothers face, she hated animals. Walking disease she called them, so Dudley couldn't help but suppress a grin, as Granger jumped on her lap and start purring.

Dudley had taken to his new school like a fish to water, and was back terrorizing smaller children in no time, in fact on his first day at school a letter had been sent home warning his parents of his bullying behavior, Vernon had simply laughed it off, well boys will be boys he reasoned. One day on the way home from school, Dudley saw a crowd gathered he went over and saw his mates beating on a kid from school, " hey big D, shouted one of them " you coming to play?" they laughed, Dudley ran over with a grin on his face, he looked down at the child on the floor, he was small and scruffy, with blood on his face, he raised his fist ready to strike , when he noticed something at the side of the boy, a smashed pair of glasses, suddenly the image of Harry flashed into his mind, and for a moment he saw Harry lying there on the floor, all the blood drained from Dudley's face and before he knew what he was doing he yelled " STOP leave him alone", the boys turned to look at him, " What's going on Dudley" asked one of the boys," you aint gone soft on us have you" another taunted, Dudley stepped forward and stood between the boy on the ground and his new friends, he put up his fists, " if you want him you'll have to come through me" he yelled, his heart was racing, " you're not as cool as we thought "one of the boys said, and then they turned their backs on him and walked away, Dudley breathed a sigh of relief.

Dudley didn't know why he had done it, and these thoughts kept him awake that night, he knew it wasn't Harry , and yet it was the thought of Harry that made him stand up to his friends, he didn't understand what was going on, " maybe I am going soft " he thought aloud, he went downstairs to get a glass of water, on his way back he opened the cupboard under the stairs, he didn't know why he did it, but he did, he looked inside" it's so small he said aloud Harry used to sleep in here" he had forgotten that, he suddenly felt something he had never felt before, guilt, guilt toward his cousin that he never took the time to get to know, and maybe that was the reason that when he returned upstairs it was into Harry's room he went and not into his own.


	4. Chapter 4

Growing Pains Chapter 4

He walked into Harry's bedroom, he had not been inside since it was used as his own second bedroom, he sat down on the bed and looked around, it was a mess, the bin was overfilled and there was books and clothes piled up next to it, he bent down and picked up something from the floor, it was a photograph, but it was not a normal photograph, as the people in the picture were moving and laughing, there was young pretty girl in the picture , with a red headed boy on one side of her, and Harry on the other, he stared at the picture, Harry looked so happy, Dudley had never seen him like this, he turned the photo over in his hands there was writing on the back, it said " me Hermione and Ron", he turned to look at the people in the picture again, and wondered if the girl in the photograph was Harry's girlfriend.

He carried on looking around the room he saw something shiny on top of a book, he picked them both up, he held the shiny object in his hand, it was a badge, with a C on it, Dudley ran his fingers over it, he wondered what its significance was momentarily lost in thought, he then turned his attention to the book

"A history of magic" he muttered inquisitively

He rolled on to his belly, and began to look through the pages, he read of goblins and legends and of wizard wars, until finally he gave way to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning he forgot where he was

"Dudley" his father shouted

"In here" replied Dudley

His father opened the door

"What the blazes are you doing in here? Vernon shouted

Dudley watched his father's eyes move to from the open book that lay open on the bed, and then back to his son,

"OUT" roared his father

Dudley picked up the shiny badge from the bed, and slipped it into his pocket

"GET OUT" raged his father again.

After an afternoon of sulking, Dudley emerged from his bedroom after hearing noises coming from Harry's room; he pushed open the door, and found his mother wearing pink magnolias cleaning,

"What are you doing?" Dudley asked his mother

"I'm getting rid of anything to do with that FREAK" she replied a little erratically

By the time I'm finished, it will be like he never existed,

Dudley was taken aback by the hostility in his mother's voice

"What did he ever do to you to hate him this much?" he asked of his mother sadly

"He lived didn't he" she screamed at her son, "he should have died with his parents, instead of burdening us, and ruining our lives, we never signed up for this

"neither did he" screamed Dudley at his mother, he's out there right now fighting a war, don't you care that he might die"

His mother seemed surprised at Dudley's outburst, it obvious that Dudley did not speak to his mother like this often.

How dare you speak to me like that, his mother shouted, "you are no better than us, you hated him to, I don't care what happens to him, and as long as I never see his filthy little face ever again?"

Dudley felt his head spinning, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, he ran down the stairs stumbling as he went, before collapsing in to a chair, by the kitchen table, how had he not seen this hatred towards Harry, or maybe he had and not cared, he felt resentment towards his mother, how could she hate him so much, it's true Dudley had hated him growing up, but that wasnt true now, he would never wish him dead never, Dudley got lost in his own thoughts, of Harry and his own childhood, as tears rolled down his cheeks, he heard a noise, like a static noise, he walked across the kitchen, and found the noise was coming from the small brown radio, he listened carefully, he could hear a voice or voices, but it was hard to tell what they were saying through all the static, he finally made a few words out.

…………………………….safe………………………………..potter………………………………..miss granger

………………………….family's…………………..together………………………….australlia………………….

And then the radio went silent, Dudley wiped his tear streaked face, and tried to work out what he had just heard, he repeated the words over and over in his head.

Who had been talking? What did it mean?

One thing was for sure Dudley thought standing, up he was going to find out.


End file.
